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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 315

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 22, 2024 02:00PM
  • May/22/24 2:33:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, again, I know the Conservatives do not like when I take on corporate greed, but Loblaws is not content just ripping off Canadians when it comes to their groceries. Now Loblaws is teaming up with Rogers and Bell to rip off Canadians with their cellphone prices. We know they are going to limit choices, and limiting choices means higher prices for Canadians. The Prime Minister promised to lower cellphone fees. They are sky-high. He promised to lower grocery prices. They are sky-high. When will the Prime Minister finally stop greedy CEOs from ripping off Canadians?
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  • May/22/24 2:33:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have actually seen cellphone bills decrease across the country by 25% over the past number of years, and we are going to continue to stand up for Canadian consumers. Indeed, I know the minister is looking into the Competition Act to see if there are needs to be referred on a number of things that have come forward. We are going to continue to stand up for the middle class and people working hard to join it, which is why we raised corporate taxes, why we asked the wealthiest Canadians to pay a little more so we can invest more in younger Canadians and why we are continuing to step up on creating fairness for every generation with this budget, with the investments we are making and with further investments as well.
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  • May/22/24 2:34:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, he acts like he does not have the power to stop these greedy CEOs, but he does. Apparently, ripping people off at the grocery store is not enough. Today we learned that Loblaws is teaming up with—
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  • May/22/24 2:35:03 p.m.
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Colleagues, I know it is Wednesday and everybody is a little more primed for action, but it is really important for us to hear the questions and answers.
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  • May/22/24 2:35:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, you act like you do not have the power to stop these greedy CEOs, but you do. I know the Conservatives do not like it, but we need to take on corporate greed. Apparently, ripping people off at the grocery store is not enough. Today we learned that Loblaws is teaming up with Rogers and Bell to block other companies from in its stores. That means less choice and higher cellphone bills. The Liberals are just standing on the sidelines. Will the Prime Minister finally stand up to the CEOs and support an investigation into these allegations?
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  • May/22/24 2:35:54 p.m.
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I would like to take this opportunity to remind all members that when they ask or answer questions, they must do so through the Chair. The right hon. Prime Minister.
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  • May/22/24 2:36:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows full well that we have made changes and improvements to give the Competition Bureau more power. We know that ensuring competition between various companies will lead to better prices and better results for Canadians. We also know that it is important to continue monitoring these issues. That is why the minister is asking the Competition Bureau to look into what is happening with cellphone plans and Loblaws. This is an issue that we will always take seriously.
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  • May/22/24 2:36:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, normally the NDP leader is well worth ignoring, but I just cannot help myself. He says that the Prime Minister acts like he has no power to stop all these greedy CEOs from ripping off consumers. Who else has the power? Well, it is the guy who joined the government two years ago. He has been in power during the worst food price inflation in over four decades. Will the Prime Minister agree with me that his carbon tax coalition is nothing more than an anti-competitive price-fixing scheme that is costing Canadians at the grocery store?
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  • May/22/24 2:37:33 p.m.
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Once again, Mr. Speaker, we see that the Conservative Party's opposition to the price on pollution is ideological and not concrete. Their opposition to the price on pollution means they do not care about fighting against climate change. Even as wildfires are already raging in different parts of the country, they have no plan to fight against climate change. They do it in the name of affordability while ignoring the Parliamentary Budget Officer, who actually showed that eight out of 10 Canadian families do better with the money put in their pockets from the Canada carbon rebate than it costs them with the price on pollution.
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  • May/22/24 2:38:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Budget Officer has concluded that 60% of Canadians pay more in carbon tax costs than they get back in the phony rebates. One hundred per cent of middle-class Canadians pay more than they get back in the phony rebates. Now the Prime Minister wants to quadruple the tax, all at a time when he is preparing to hand over power to carbon tax Carney. Will the Prime Minister confirm if carbon tax Carney will follow through on his plan to hike the tax to 61¢ a litre?
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  • May/22/24 2:38:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Budget Officer has confirmed that eight out of 10 Canadian families in jurisdictions where the carbon price federal backstop applies are better off, with more money in their pockets through the Canada carbon rebate cheques that land in their bank accounts four times a year. That is money in their pockets that goes to the cost of groceries, the cost of rent and the cost of everything they need to raise their families. That is money in their pockets that the Leader of the Opposition would take away because of an ideological crusade against climate action.
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  • May/22/24 2:39:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's wacko carbon tax obsession is not just costing Canadians at the pumps; it raises the cost of home heating and groceries, because, of course, if we tax the farmer who produces the food and the trucker who ships the food, we tax all who buy the food. It is a housing tax, because it raises the cost of building materials that go into homes. With the report out today that 25% of young people had to go to a food bank in just three months, will the Prime Minister accept the common-sense Conservative bill to take the tax off the farmers who produce our food?
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  • May/22/24 2:40:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition continues to make that argument even though he knows full well that farm fuels are 95% exempt from the price on pollution right across the country. That is something he ignores because of his ideological opposition to take any action in fighting climate change. Well, I can tell the Leader of the Opposition that, in Conservative ridings right across the country, people are worried about droughts, people are worried about floods, and people are worried about wildfires that are more and more severe. Canadians need a clean plan to fight climate change, which is something he has not put forward. We are fighting climate change and putting money in people's pockets.
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  • May/22/24 2:41:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's carbon tax applies on barns, on grain drying, on fertilizers and on off-farm vehicles. It costs literally tens of thousands of dollars for many individual farmers, all of which gets passed on. However, the Prime Minister, instead of defending his taxes, resorted to a really wacko and unhinged claim that, if Canadians just paid more taxes, there would suddenly be fewer fires. I thought that water and not taxes put out fires. Can the Prime Minister clarify how high his tax would have to go for forest fires to stop?
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  • May/22/24 2:41:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are facing the impacts of extreme weather events that come from climate change that are, unfortunately, getting worse and worse every year. That is why our government, from 2015 onwards, has stepped up in the fight against climate change. Not only are we reducing Canada's emissions to the lowest level outside the pandemic in 25 years, but we are also stepping up in the jobs and technological innovations that the world needs to successfully fight climate change. We will continue to fight climate change and put more money in people's pockets while the Leader of the Opposition sits with his arms crossed and has no plan.
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  • May/22/24 2:42:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister did not answer my question. Now he says that his taxes are going to make Canada a high-tech wonderland. Before his claim was that it was going to stop forest fires. It is he who made the link, not me. Obviously, I think the link between the two is absolutely ridiculous. His tax is not an environmental plan; it is a money-collecting plan. It is a plan of government greed. I will ask the question again. The Prime Minister wants to hike the tax to 61¢ a litre. If it gets that high, and people are all starving in the streets, will that stop the forest fires?
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  • May/22/24 2:43:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the Leader of the Opposition's desire to make clever rhetorical points, he actually completely ignores the basic facts. The price on pollution is revenue-neutral for the federal government, which means that the money that comes in for the price on pollution, for the carbon tax, gets returned to the jurisdictions. That is why the Parliamentary Budget Officer found that eight out of 10 Canadian families in jurisdictions where the carbon price applies do better with the Canada carbon rebate, which comes in four times a year, than the price on pollution costs them. That is a plan to fight climate change and put money in people's pockets.
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  • May/22/24 2:44:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am sorry to be too clever for the Prime Minister, but he is the one who made the argument that high taxes would stop forest fires, and now he cannot tell us how high the tax would go to put all the fires out. He went on, now, to say that his tax is revenue neutral. One does not have to be too clever to read the government's own published documents, which show that he has collected $2 billion more in taxes than he has given back in rebates. That is why 100% of middle-class Canadians pay more than they get back. Once again, will he tell those middle-class people how high the tax would have to go for the fires to stop?
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  • May/22/24 2:44:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what we just saw is climate denialism at its finest. The fact is that, as global emissions rise, as carbon intensity in the atmosphere increases, extreme weather events like wildfires, droughts and floods will simply become more and more frequent. His plan is to do nothing and let future generations fend for themselves. Our plan is not only to reduce our emissions but to create the solutions that the world needs while we lead on fighting climate change, bringing down emissions and growing the economy.
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  • May/22/24 2:45:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, a brand new study by the Office québécois de la langue française shows that the proportion of young Quebeckers who use French as their language of work 90% of the time has dropped from 64% to 58%. Will the Prime Minister admit that his language policies are not slowing the decline of French one bit, and that his opposition to Bill 96 is weakening the French language, or will he in turn start hurling vicious and vulgar insults at Quebec scientists?
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